All manner of different types of seals are used in machine systems. In the case of machine system components movable relative to one another, providing effective fluid or debris-tight seals can present unique challenges. On the one hand, there can be inherent difficulties in excluding or preventing the escape of liquids or debris where components contacting a seal move relative to one another. The relative motion can, moreover, cause wear of the seal and/or machine components of interest. In the case of machine systems where components sought to be sealed have multiple degrees of freedom of motion, it will be appreciated that developing a sealing system which can accommodate all or even multiple different configurations of the subject components in three dimensional space, and still live for a reasonable service life, can be very difficult, often requiring field testing or simulation testing of numerous different design iterations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,445 to Hassan is directed to a ball joint seal intended to limit the ingress to a joint interior of dirt, water or other foreign matter while retaining a lubricant within the seal. While Hassan may serve adequately, there are likely limitations as to the breadth of suitability of the seal outside its intended service environment.